Steam-generating system.



Patented Apr.. 29, |902.

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STEAM GENERATING SYSTEM.

(Applaton filed July 5, 1901.)

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WITNESSES UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.,

Two-Turnus.: To yALE-xANDER HUsToN AND` BAYMONT HUsToN,

oF 'wnLsroim PENNSYLVANIA.

l I STEAM-'G EN EATING SYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Lettersy Patent NQ. 699,102, 'dated Apri; 29, 190e. Application inea July 5. 1901.' strain@ 67.161; or@ model.)

To LZZ whomimag/concern: l

Be it known that I, WILLIAM CHESTERMAN, of Walston, inthe county of Jefferson, in the State of Pennsylvania, `have invented new and useful Improvementsin Steam-Generat-- ing Systems, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in steam-generating systems. f

The object of this invention is to provide means whereby steam may be generated in a battery of boilers from a single source of heat, or, in otherwords, the'object, briefly stated, is to utilize the steam from a primary generator for converting the .water in one or more secondary boilers intosteam andto thereby' obtain a maximum degree of steam efficiencyi with the consumption of a'minim'um quantity; of fuel.

A further object is' to connect to 'several boilers so as to supply steam from the primaryboiler to the steam-heaters of the secondary boilers successively and to collectthe steam generated in the several boilers'into one com.

mon steam-supply conduit; 'whichA may b e connected to an engine or other device requin: ing power orsteam heat. j f l Y y A still further object istoprovide the water 'and steam connections with suitable valves,` whereby the primary generator maybe used; individually or collectively-with" one jor more ofthe secondary generators.v

To this end the invention consists in the combination, construction, and arrangement of the parts of a steam-generating system as hereinafter fully described, and-pointed out in the claims.

Referring tothe drawings',Figure 1 is a top plan of a steam-generating plant embodying my invention., Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2`2, Fig. U1.v y

ySimilarzreference characters 'indicate corresponding parts in both views'.

In the ordinary method or process of generating steam it is well known that a considerable degree of heat energy is necessarily dis-v sipated or lost by reason of the escape of the products of combustion through'a draft or smoke flue, that even under the most favorable conditions after the.fuel is well ignited a large percentageof the heat isthus diverted throu'ghthischannel, and that when a battery i of the'several steam-boilers Withfindependent sources of heat is employed this loss of energy is proportionately increased according to the number of generators fused. It is therefore evident that if the water in a series of boilers could be successfully converted into steam from a single source of heat a large saving in fuel, labor, and bunker-space or a considerable increase in the volume of steam 'from' a given quantity of fuel would result.

My invention is designed to' accomplish this result' in the manner above mentioned, and in orderuto clearly illustrate the principle of my invention I have shown' a` battery of "four water-containing shells ornboilers 1, 2, 3,"and 4, oneof'which, as 1,'is superimposed above a suitable combustion-chamber or other source of heat `and constitutes the `primary steamf'generatoi, while the'remaining shells 2, `3, and Lreceive theheatfrom the primary generatorA and will abehereinafter kdesignated as' ,secondary generators. The primary and ,secondary boilers are preferably identical in construction, .each consistingofyla cylindrical vshell having front andrearlendheadsj 6 and 7, "the 'frontl heads '6' being provided with suitable water gages or valves 8, and the 4rear heads are provided with hand or man `holes V9 and plates 10 for closing said holes land'pernnittin'g access to the'interior of the boilers when desired to clean the same or for `any other purpose. I also preferably provide each of the boilers l, 2, 8, and 4 with a tortuous steam-conduit 11, usually consisting of a series of loops or pipes connected to each other to form a continuous conduit. The tortuous portion of each is generally submerged in the body of water of `itsrespeetive boiler, and the opposite ends or legs of said conduit are extended outwardly through suitable openings 15 and 16 in the upper wall of the shell. Each of these shells is also provided with Water-inlet and steam-outlet openings 17 and 18, a steam-gage 19, and a safety-valve or equivalent device 20, all of which extend through the upper wall of the shell, the waterinlet openings of the several shells being con- IOO nected to each other by a water supply or feed conduit 21, and the steam-outlet openings are connected by a pipe or conduit 22, adapted to receive steam from either or all of the generators.

The water and steam conduits 21 and 22 are connected to any desired form of steam inspirator or injector, as 23, by which water may be supplied through the conduit 21 to the several generators simultaneously.l The operation of the inspirator or injector 23 being well understood by those skilled in the art, it is believed to be unnecessary to further illustrate or describe the same. This conduit 21 preferably extends transversely above the primary and secondary boilers, being arranged to discharge first into the primary generator 1 and then successively through the secondaryboilers 2, 3, and 4, and is provided witha series of depending branches 24, extending downwardly through the openings 1 7 of the several boilers 1, 2, 3, and 4 to a point in proximity to the bottom walls of said boilers.

lIn order that the attendant may be enabled to use the primary generator individually or either one of the secondary boilers in connection with the primary generator, I provide cachl of the branches 24 with a suitable valve 26, whereby water may be supplied to either of said primary or secondary generators independently or simultaneously with the others. I` also provide the water-supply conduit 21 with a suitable check-valve 27 and additional valves 28, whereby the water may be shut o either' between the inspirator and check-valve or between the check-valve and the primary generator 1 when lit ,may be desired to disconnect any portion of the water-feed conduit between the yinspirator' and the primary generator, suitable unions 2,9 being also provided in` thewater-feed pipe for facilitating the disconnecting of the several sections 'of the water-.supply conduit.

The steam-heaters or tort-nous conduits 11 are preferably submerged in the water of their respective boilers, and the number of loops or ribs thus submerged may be increased or di'- minished according to the size of the boiler or tomeet the requirements necessary to produce the highest degree of efficiency.

As previously stated, the opposite ends or legs 12 and 13 of the steam-heater 11 are eX- tended downwardly through the openings 15 and 16 in the upper wall of the boiler and are each provided with a suitable valve 30 and 31, the leg 12 being connected to the lower end of the tortuous conduit 11, and the outer ends of each ofthe legs 12 of the severalboilers are connected to each other by a conduit 25 and to themain steam-conduit 22 by an additional connection 32.

The conduit 25 extends transversely above theboilers 1, 2, 3, and 4 and terminates in the inspirator or injector 23 foi-,supplying steam thereto and by which the water is forced or drawn from a suitable well or other water-res ervoir through the water-supply conduit 21. The other leg of the steam-heater'll is connected to the upper loop 13 of the steam-heater 1l, extends outwardly through the opening 16, each of said legs 13 being provided with a valve 31 and are connected to each other by a conduit 33, which receives the steam suc-l cessively from the steam-heaters 11 of the several boilers 1, 2, 3, and 4 and is arranged to discharge into a suitable separator or condenser, if desired, said conduit 33 being provided at its outer end with a suitable valve 34 for controlling the flow of said steam to the condenser, it being understood that this steam may be conductedl from the condenser (not illustrated) back to the water-supply reservoir.

The steam-conduit 22 forms the main steam conduit for receiving the steam generated in the several boilers 1, y2, 3,.and 4,' said conduit 22 being provided ,with a series ofdepending branches 34, extending downwardly through the openings 18 in 'the upper walls of .said boilers, these branches being providedwith valves 35, by means of which the steammay be supplied either fromthe primary boiler -1 individually or from one or more of the secondary boilers in conjunction with the ,pri mary boiler. Each ofthe conduits 21, 22, 25, and 33 are provided with suitable unions 37, 38, 39, and 40, whereby the several sections of said conduits may be readily detached from each other when desired to disconnect the boilers one from the other.

In the operation of my invention the steam is generated in the primary boiler 1 by means of the products of combustion in the chamber 5, which steam passes from the boiler liuto the main steam-pipe 22, outwardly through the conduits 22, 32, and 25, through theseveral loops of the tortuous conduit 11 of each of the generators, and thence into the conduit 33, from which it may be discharged through a suitable separator or condenser, previously mentioned and not necessaryto herein illustrate or describe. This discharge of the steam through the several steam-heat-Y ers converts the water of the secondaryboil-A ers into steam and also facilitatesthe generation of steam in the primary boiler. jIt is obvious, however, that, if desired, the steam coil or heater 11 may be dispensed with in the primary generator and used only for the generation of steam in the secondary boilers; but in practical operation I have found it to be a decided advantage to have one of these heaters in the primary generator.

During the rst ring or generation of the vsteam in the primary boiler the valves 35 in the secondary boilers may be closed, thereby diverting all of the steam from the primary boiler through theseveral steam-heater coils. After the steam begins to form in thesecondary boilers the valves 35 of these kboilers may beopened, thereby admitting the steam from the secondary boilers .to the main conduit 22, which of course mingles with the steam generated first in the yprimary boiler IOO IIC

and augments the generating of steam in all of the boilers. f Y

The main steam-conduit 22 extends beyond the last secondary boiler 4 and may be connected to an engine or other device requiring steam, this main steam-conduit forming the power-supply and is adapted to receive the steam either from all or any one of the generators in the manner previously described.

When desired to supply one or more of the generators with water, steam is admitted through the conduit 21 from the inspirator 23, which is manipulated in the usual manner for drawing water from the supply-reservoir and forcing the same through the conduit 21, the water first entering the primary boiler 1 and is then successively admitted to each of the boilers4 2, 3, and 4. Itis apparent, however, that either of these boilers may be supplied with water independently of the others by simply closing the valves 26 of all but the one which it is desired to supply with water.

The safety-valves 2O of eachvof the boilers may be of any desired construction and may be arranged in the form of an alarm, if desired, and the steam-gages 19 may also be formed of any desired construction for indicating the pressure of steam within each of theboilersindependentlyoftheothers. These safety-valves or alarms and the lsteam-gage being well understood, it is thought to be unnecessary to further illustrate or describe the same.

The operation of my invention will now be readily understood upon reference to the foregoing description and the accompanying drawings, and it will be noted that the essential feature of this invention is to provide a series of boilers with steam-coils connected to a primary steam-generator, whereby the steam generated in the primary steam-generator serves to generate steam in the secondary boilers, and that the construction of the steam-heaters and the connections between the several generators may be varied somewhat without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what a series of secondary generators each having a steam-conduit therein and in communication with the steam-conduit in the primary generator whereby steam is generated in the secondary generators by the steam supplied from the primary generator, a steam-delivery conduit common to allof the generators, and

a water-feed conduit common to all the gen erators having a series of depending branches extending into the respective generators and discharging in close proximity to the bottom wall of said generators, substantially as de scribed.

2. In a steam-generating system, the com bination with a primary generator, and means for supplying heat to said primary generator, of a-plurality of secondary generators each having a steam-conduit located therein and connected to the primary generator whereby steam is generated to the secondary generators solely by the aid of the steam supplied from the primary generator, a water-feed conduit for supplying water to each ofthe generators simultaneously, and a steam-delivery conduit common to all the generators, substantially as described.

3. In a steam-generating system, a primary generator supplied with heat from a suitable source, and a plurality of secondary genera; tors each having a tortuous steam-conduit therein connected to the primary generator, a Water-feed conduit connected to' each gen# erator so as to supply water to all simultaneously, and a steam-delivery conduit com; mon to all the generators, substantially as de# scribed. g I

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 18th day of June, 1901.

^ WILLIAM cHEsTERM'AN'.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM S. DAVENPORT, H. P. DENIsoN. 

